The Car
2004 rx8 MT 6 speed w/ 87xxx miles. no mods. new coils and spark plugs.

The Story
Alright boys and girls its story time

i got off work the other night and i started the car and drove off without warming it up first. immediately i felt a lack of power. i floored it to see what was going on and the speed increased a lot slower than normal. it actually sounded like it was struggling to speed up and when maintaining a speed it would jerk and the engine was not making a consistent sound. during my trip home the CEL came on and smelled like something was burning. i could smell it from my drivers seat. i hoped maybe it was a fluke and would go away in the morning since there was nothing i could do at 10pm

the next morning car wont start and CEL is still there. sounded like the engine was trying to turn over but wouldnt. i tried the deflooding trick i found on the DIY thinking maybe i flooded it and then it started but you have to constantly rev it and give it gas. if it goes below 1k rpm the car shuts off. i let it sit again for a day

the next day i cleaned the MAF and tried the deflooding DIY. during this process i think the battery died cuz now it just sounds like ticktickticktick and i have to use jumper cables to get the old struggling engine sound back but even then it wont start at all now.

the scanner said P0301. any ideas/suggestions? thanks for reading and responding.

 

Yeah, you have at least one bad coil, and your plugs are probably fouled now.
Might be able to clean them up(the plugs), but I think you lost a coil(or two).
They may be new, but I'll bet one is toast! P0301 is a misfire which is USUALLY coils.

It's not 100% for sure, but you can use the following for at least one way to try and determine which coil.

 

i prolly should have specificed. thats my fault. the coils are brand spanking new. 0 miles. i thot it was the coils too so i put in new coils a couple hours ago. problem persists.

 

Well, coils have been bad right out of the box before. One never knows.
Did you get the order right?
Don't know your skill level..........are you sure the plug wires are right and did they snap on?

 

yup. installed coils 1 at a time to avoid putting them in the wrong order. snap right on.

 

Man...............I'd check the coils out anyway.

This assumes you got the battery situation all worked out.

Have you pulled the plugs to see if they are all wet and oily...or....are they new as well?

 

spark plugs are pretty new. they have less than 1000 miles on them so i didnt bother looking.

 

How many miles on the wires?

 

And................have you verified spark?

 

not too sure. ill try that out. if it doesnt work i can always return it to autozone

 

nope. how do you do that?

 

i said eff it and towed it to mazda tonight...more news tomorrow after they look at it.

 

ok problem solved. there was a total of 3 problems. flooded, battery, and ignition coils. i already knew it was flooded and the ignition coils had to be replaced which i did on my own. as for the battery, i knew it was going out but i thought i had more time before i NEEDED to replace it but i think i killed it trying to deflood it. Putnam mazda in burlingame CA deflooded and replaced the battery for $300. apparently the battery i had was only at 430 cold cranking amps, 675 is recomended haha

thanks for everyones input. car is fixed now =)